But Will Tang, Rochdale's blues rock guitarist/harmonca player, passes it off as normal: "Oh, well, Jackie Chan's a massive pop star in China – I mention him because he's the guy that everybody knows. All these Cantonese pop stars do movies as well as having albums out as well. The industry's like that over there – if you're a star they'll get you in on everything they can," he laughs.

The surreal imagery of Jackie Chan singing pop songs dominates our conversation for a while. "He was just milling around the studio singing his pop songs," says Tang, who was a session musician playing on some of Chan's tracks.

But rewind 14 years and Tang – born and bred in Rochdale, Greater Manchester – was an engineering student taking a 'year out.'

"I was only supposed to be stopping in Hong Kong for a short while," says Tang, "I went there to see what it was like. My Dad's from Hong Kong and he would tell us all these stories so I was curious. I ended up staying there 10 years."

His long stay was a result of his success as a session musician, renowned for his dextrous harmonica playing, which added a novel sound to many Chinese pop albums.

"I certainly didn't think I would have the range of experiences that I did if I had stayed at home and not been in Hong Kong," says Tang.

Among those experiences in China, somewhat incongrously was Tang's discovery of jazz, blues and the 'classics' (Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan).

These sounds can be heard in his latest album, Everything Changes, which ranges from tightly-woven acoustic numbers to heavy, ranchy blues riffs with big harmonica licks. It is evident on hearing the album that the 36-year-old Tang boycotted the indy influences of his contemporaries: "I had heard of Oasis but because I was living in Hong Kong I wasn't familiar with all their stuff."

Rather, Tang's sound is one of a timewarp, a hermetically-sealed, riff-centred bubble.

- Will Tang plays at The Boardwalk October 7.

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